N.Y.
Public Housing Law Section 605
Definitions
1.
“Homeless” means lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; having a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, campground, or other place not meant for human habitation; living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including hotels and motels paid for by federal, state or local government programs for low-income individuals or by charitable organizations, congregate shelters, or transitional housing); exiting an institution where an individual or family has resided and lacking a regular fixed and adequate nighttime residence upon release or discharge; individuals released or scheduled to be released from incarceration and lacking a regular fixed and adequate nighttime residence upon release or discharge; being a homeless family with children or unaccompanied youth defined as homeless under 42 U.S.C. § 11302(a); having experienced a long-term period without living independently in permanent housing or having experienced persistent instability as measured by frequent moves and being reasonably expected to continue in such status for an extended period of time because of chronic disabilities, chronic physical health or mental health conditions, substance addiction, histories of domestic violence or childhood abuse, the presence of a child or youth with a disability, multiple barriers to employment, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions, including conditions that relate to violence against an individual or a family member.2.
“Imminent loss of housing” means having received a verified rent demand or a petition for eviction; having received a court order resulting from an eviction action that notifies the individual or family that they must leave their housing; facing loss of housing due to a court order to vacate the premises due to hazardous conditions, which may include but not be limited to asbestos, lead exposure, mold, and radon; having a primary nighttime residence that is a room in a hotel or motel and lacking the resources necessary to stay; facing loss of the primary nighttime residence, which may include living in the home of another household, where the owner or renter of the housing will not allow the individual or family to stay, provided further, that an assertion from an individual or family member alleging such loss of housing or homelessness shall be sufficient to establish eligibility; or fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual or a family member, provided further that an assertion from an individual or family member alleging such abuse and loss of housing shall be sufficient to establish eligibility.3.
“Public housing agency” means any county, municipality, or other governmental entity or public body that is authorized to administer any public housing program (or an agency or instrumentality of such an entity), and any other public or private non-profit entity that administers any other public housing program or assistance.4.
“Section 8 local administrator” means a public housing agency that administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program under section 8 of the United States housing act of 1937 within a community, county or region, or statewide, on behalf of and under contract with the housing trust fund corporation.5.
“Housing access voucher local administrator” means a public housing agency, as defined in subdivision three of this section, or Section 8 local administrator designated to administer the housing access voucher pilot program within a community, county or region, or statewide, on behalf of and under contract with the housing trust fund corporation. In the city of New York, the housing access voucher local administrator shall be the New York city department of housing preservation and development, or the New York city housing authority, or both.6.
“Family” means a group of persons residing together. Such group includes, but is not limited to a family with or without children (a child who is temporarily away from the home because of placement in foster care is considered a member of the family) or any remaining members of a tenant family. The commissioner shall have the discretion to determine if any other group of persons qualifies as a family.7.
“Owner” means any private person or any entity, including a cooperative, an agency of the federal government, or a public housing agency, having the legal right to lease or sublease dwelling units.8.
“Dwelling unit” means a single-family dwelling, including attached structures such as porches and stoops; or a single-family dwelling unit in a structure that contains more than one separate residential dwelling unit, and in which each such unit is used or occupied, or intended to be used or occupied, in whole or in part, as the residence of one or more persons.9.
“Income” shall mean the same as it is defined by 24 CFR § 5.609 and any amendments thereto.10.
“Adjusted income” shall mean the same as it is defined by 24 CFR § 5.611 and any amendments thereto.11.
“Reasonable rent” means rent not more than the rent charged on comparable units in the private unassisted market and rent charged for comparable unassisted units in the premises.12.
“Fair market rent” means the fair market rent for each rental area as promulgated annually by the United States department of housing and urban development pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1437f.13.
“Voucher” means a document issued by the housing trust fund corporation pursuant to this article to an individual or family selected for admission to the housing access voucher pilot program, which describes such pilot program and the procedures for approval of a unit selected by the family and states the obligations of the individual or family under the pilot program.14.
“Lease” means a written agreement between an owner and a tenant for the leasing of a dwelling unit to the tenant. The lease establishes the conditions for occupancy of the dwelling unit by an individual or family with housing assistance payments under a contract between the owner and the housing access voucher local administrator.15.
“Dependent” means any member of the family who is neither the head of household, nor the head of the household’s spouse, and who is:(a)
under the age of eighteen;(b)
a person with a disability; or(c)
a full-time student.16.
“Elderly” means a person sixty-two years of age or older.17.
“Child care expenses” means expenses relating to the care of children under the age of thirteen.18.
“Severely rent burdened” means those individuals and families who pay more than fifty percent of their income in rent as defined by the United States census bureau.19.
“Disability” means:(a)
the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve months; or(b)
in the case of an individual who has attained the age of fifty-five and is blind, the inability by reason of such blindness to engage in substantial gainful activity requiring skills or abilities comparable to those of any gainful activity in which they have previously engaged with some regularity and over a substantial period of time; or(c)
a physical, mental, or emotional impairment which:(i)
is expected to be of long-continued and indefinite duration;(ii)
substantially impedes their ability to live independently; and(iii)
is of such a nature that such ability could be improved by more suitable housing conditions; or(d)
a developmental disability that is a severe, chronic disability of an individual that:(i)
is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of mental and physical impairments;(ii)
is manifested before the individual attains age twenty-two;(iii)
is likely to continue indefinitely;(iv)
results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: (A) self-care; (B) receptive and expressive language; (C) learning; (D) mobility; (E) self-direction; (F) capacity for independent living; or (G) economic self-sufficiency; and(v)
reflects the individual’s need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic services, individualized supports, or other forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. * NB Expires May 1, 2030
Source:
Section 605 — Definitions, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PBG/605 (updated May 23, 2025; accessed Jun. 21, 2025).
